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December 9, 2006

Fascinating Florida re-entry report

In February 2005 through this executive order, Florida Governor Jeb Bush created an Ex-Offender Taskforce "to help improve the effectiveness of the State of Florida in facilitating the re-entry of ex-offenders into their communities so as to reduce the incidence of recidivism." This Taskforce has recently released this final report, which has 15 detailed recommendations designed to address reentry issues.

The report is a very interesting read, and the bulk of the recommendations come under the heading "The Prison Experience: Successful Reentry Must Start at Prison Entry." Here are the four highest priorities identified by the Taskforce under this heading:

1. The [Florida Department of Corrections (FDC)] mission statement should be revised to explicitly address successful reentry. To assess performance in achieving the goal of successful reentry, performance measures should be adopted for FDC, its facilities, and wardens and staff.

2. A minimum of six more facilities should be transformed into faith and character-based facilities with three completed by December 31, 2007 and three more by December 31, 2008....

6. FDC should improve and expand job training through the maximization of third-party resources....

9. FDC should begin pre-release planning with inmates starting on their first day of incarceration and develop individualized reentry plan for each inmates....